It's physics - a hinge creates a stress point that a metal body can stand up to, but a plastic body can't.

It isn't so much the hinge, but rather that it attached at certain points to keep things rigid without encasing the whole device. The Nook STR took this approach, but poorly. The Nook tended to flop around in the cover due to having two flimsy attach points.

The best thing about the earlier Sony cases was the semi-intangibles. In the cover it felt a bit like a quality notebook. It sat well in the hand. The T1 feels like a device in a Chinese-made case. It has a lot of the same qualities that made me cringe at most (but not all) of the Nook cases. It works, but lacks the sort of quality that helped trick my brain into accepting it as a book replacement.

I don't get that at all.. I have right here next to me both a 650 and T1 in their official covers, and frankly, I think the T1 cover sits better and feels better constructed. (Holding the reader in a form fit clasp is much more solid than the cheap platic hinge in the 650 cover.) The material of the two covers looks and feels almost identical.

A big chunk of it are the little things (semi-intangibles as I put it before). The edges of the T1 cover are left rough and sharp (at least mine was), which made it feel cheap. Without the need for magnets, they didn't have any sewing into the cover itself, which is a small but nice touch. The back of the cover has a nice grip, but the shape tends to remind you that you are using a device. The lip of the clasp presents another edge when reading one-handed that bugged me. The front actually had something to stay put on the 650, and the T1 has nothing so the cover tends to flop a bit.

I'm not gonna say they did a bad job with what they had. It's better than the Nook covers I've tried with the STR. Hell, I couldn't even read with the Nook one-handed in the cover with my left hand because of the flimsy clasp they have (could with the right). The materials are close enough to recapture most of the style, and important for most folk, it does the job. But at the end it isn't quite the same thing.

I know the things that bug me are subjective, but I can't just ignore them. I only ever used the Nook STR without a cover (even though I tried) because of these harder to quantify issues with the covers.

A big chunk of it are the little things (semi-intangibles as I put it before). The edges of the T1 cover are left rough and sharp (at least mine was), which made it feel cheap. Without the need for magnets, they didn't have any sewing into the cover itself, which is a small but nice touch. The back of the cover has a nice grip, but the shape tends to remind you that you are using a device. The lip of the clasp presents another edge when reading one-handed that bugged me. The front actually had something to stay put on the 650, and the T1 has nothing so the cover tends to flop a bit.

These are the things that bother me about the standard case too, especially the edge thing on the right-side of the reader. I would rather rest my thumb on the flat surface of the device than on a raised edge. A cover that won't stay put is also annoying. I wish it were more "book-like", similar to past Sony covers or the Kindle standard covers.

I bought the Sony cover because I wanted a lighted option for traveling. I am looking forward to seeing what designs become available from other vendors.

I'm tempted to get one of the official Sony covers just so I have something to keep my new Reader in--I'd like to take it with me on a trip next month--but I just know if I wait a couple months or so, a third party will come out with one that I actually like, making the Sony cover a waste of money. I have a Tuff-luv easel-style cover for my PRS-350 and it's pretty awesome. I wouldn't mind something similar for my T1.

I'm tempted to get one of the official Sony covers just so I have something to keep my new Reader in--I'd like to take it with me on a trip next month--but I just know if I wait a couple months or so, a third party will come out with one that I actually like, making the Sony cover a waste of money. I have a Tuff-luv easel-style cover for my PRS-350 and it's pretty awesome. I wouldn't mind something similar for my T1.

Tuff luv are planning on releasing a similar cover within a month, or at least thats what they told me.

I just picked up an official Sony cover with the built-in light. Maybe it'll grow on me, but I'm not really a fan of it so far. The vinyl and plastic exterior materials, and the looseness of the front cover when closed, make the overall design feel a little cheap. This is my first cover with built-in light, and the implementation of it is pretty neat. I do appreciate that the front cover easily bends back behind the device for convenient one-handed reading, and having a cover on the reader feels like it'll make it easier for me to hold.

I suppose it'll do until something better comes along, but $50 seems a little much for it.

It's lined with some taffeta I got out of the remnant bin at Joann Fabric. I highly recommend using a stronger glue than the Instructables recommends.

I also got some imitation leather out of the remnant bin, so with some cardboard and glue I made this:

The most expensive part of this was the magnetic closure. All the parts cost lest than $5. It has some problems, so I'm remaking it now, but I got enough faux leather to make 8 of them, so I can afford to mess up a few.

I bought some quilting fabric at Walmart and covered some of the journals:

I used elastic headbands for the elastic so I could have some more colors than just black:

So now my T1 can wear a different dress every day, and I still have some journals left for when I get bored.